BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Students at Springfield Plains and Bailey Lake elementary schools are drinking bottled water as work continues to replace and retest fixtures found to be contaminating water with lead.
The cost for replacing the fixtures so far is around $15,000, said Superintendent Dr. Rod Rock.
“We won’t know the total until we have the final test results. We do not anticipate that insurance will cover these costs,” Rock said.
“Student safety is our first concern. We are working to address the issues at hand,” Rock said when asked if civil action is being considered against the contractor or manufacturer of the fixtures. “That is our focus at this time.”
BLE, SPE, and Andersonville Elementary are on wells. The Oakland County Health Department requires the district to conduct water tests at these sites every three years, when school is in session.
In September,the tests identified fixtures at SPE and BLE that were above allowable limits.
“Immediately upon learning of the elevated lead levels at certain fixtures within the buildings, we shut off access at certain fixtures within the buildings, we shut off access to those fixtures and provided bottled water to students in those rooms. Since then, as a precautionary measure, we have cut off access to water in each of the buildings entirely and provided bottled water. Additionally, we are not using the water for food preparation,” Rock said.
Letters were sent to parents on Sept. 30 and Oct. 14.
“Once we have the results of new testing, we will turn on access to the fixtures we’ve replaced and continue to limit access to the others that tested above limits until they are replaced,” said BLE Principal Glenn Gualtieri in his letter. “In exercising an overabundance of caution to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children, we are conducting an additional test of the water source at BLE. This test will take approximately one week. We continue to work closely with the Oakland County Health Department and the DEQ in this matter.”
Handwashing in the bathrooms is safe, Gualtieri said.
“Until we have the results of our final test, we will continue to use bottled water and not utilize water from the kitchen for food preparation,” he said. “Additional sources showed raised levels of lead and copper. We are replacing all of the fixtures that tested above allowable limits.”
The contamination was traced to the pipes and other equipment in the schools.
“It is fixture related and that is the reason to replace the fixtures and retest,” Rock said. “We immediately took these fixtures offline and provided bottled water for drinking purposes. We will continue to use bottled water until the tests results are returned.”
The district is working closely with the health department throughout this process.
“We have had several direct meetings with them and followed their guidance in notifying parents. Our ongoing testing and actions mean that students are not at risk,” he said. “As the rest of the buildings within the district are on a municipal water system, tests are conducted at the source by other entities. As an additional safety step for our students, we have regularly conducted tests at all buildings to determine that the water is safe for drinking.”
No other buildings within the district require interventions or additional testing at this time, he said.